A Study Of Special Relationship Between Laos-Vietnam In The Post-Cold War Era

This dissertation discusses the special relationship between Vietnam and Laos and how that relationship has panned out during the previous decade. Historically, the relationship between the two nations has been particularly close, especially since1975when the Vietnam War ended and both countries adopted communist ideologies. The relationship has been mainly characterized’ by Vietnam domination of Laotian affairs and the aid Vietnam has given the smaller nation. Also, the relationship has been affected by the influence of other world powers in the region such as the United States and China and its neighbors, such as Thailand. The relationship between the western states with most of the post-cold war powers has been shaped over decades as both the Western and Asian states struggle to form strong ties with their neighbor states for security reasons.In spite of the lack of primary sources, the available secondary and part of the few primary sources covered comprehensively on the genesis of the Laos-Vietnam relationship. This was helpful in building a solid foundation into this study as it gave more credibility to the existence of this relationship and its metamorphic transformations through history. The theoretical framework provided a solid basis in the coexistence between the two states which are differentiated by their economic and political power inequalities. Through the asymmetry theory it was apparent that Vietnam has a potential of not only influencing Laos’domestic politics but also undermine its liberty and sovereignty to satisfy her interestsIn order to evaluate a long-term relationship between Vietnam and Laos, this dissertation will seek to cover four main aims and objectives, namely, whether the Vietnamese government can directly affect domestic politics in Laos, how exactly does the Vietnamese government helps political leaders in Laos to maintain their power and whether this is significant or not, the exact motives behind Lao’s alliance and reliance upon Vietnam and what would potentially happen if Vietnam stops aiding Laos. In order to answer these questions the dissertation is divided into five chapters, the introduction, a literature review which considers the background and available literature relating to these questions, a methodology chapter, the discussion, which forms the bulk of the dissertation and a concluding chapter which comments on the strength of the relationship and seeks to answer the aims and objectives of this piece.The interviews and questioners should target major government stake-holders like politicians and the citizens who face the impacts of this relationship so that more conclusions on the motives, benefits and reasons behind this relationship can be pointed out. Furthermore, time was also another factor that constrained the used of participatory methods of collecting primary information...